#@lynja

[namshyeee]

Lynn Yamada Davis, a TikTok creator who entertained millions of people with her zany style and cooking tips on her account, Cooking With Lynja, died on Jan. 1 in Red Bank, N.J. She was 67.

The cause of death, in Riverview Medical Center, was esophageal cancer, her daughter Hannah Mariko Shofet said. Ms. Davis lived in Holmdel, N.J.

Ms. Davis began creating the wholesome Cooking With Lynja videos in 2020 with her youngest child, Tim Davis, to help keep up his cinematography skills during the pandemic lockdown.

Her social media accounts have remained active after her death, because she had asked him to post videos that had already been edited. One such video shows the two of them looking for truffles in Italy.

“My mom was like my partner in crime,” Mr. Davis, 27, who edited the TikTok account, said in a phone interview.

Something else she requested, Mr. Davis said, was that he post a few older videos that they had made together about a decade ago.

Those early versions of what would later become an international TikTok sensation known for their lightheartedness were a way for Mr. Davis to learn how to make the food his mother cooked “as well as have a time capsule,” he said.

After the last Cooking With Lynja videos are uploaded the account will stop posting, he said.

Cooking With Lynja began in 2020 and gained wide attention with a video in which the 5-foot-tall Ms. Davis makes a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich while showing off some quirky dance moves. Soon, about one million people were following her offbeat content. (Today, the account has more than 17 million followers.) Potential sponsors noted the videos’ success and started contacting her.

More than three years later, the Cooking With Lynja YouTube account has nearly 10 million subscribers, and Ms. Davis’s Instagram account has more than two million followers.

In 2022, Forbes included Ms. Davis on its annual “50 over 50” list, which pays tribute to successful women over 50 years old. And she won Streamy Awards, honoring online videos, in the editing and food categories. In 2023, she attended the Forbes Women’s Summit in Abu Dhabi, where she spoke on a panel.

Lynn Yamada Davis was born on July 31, 1956, in New York City and lived most of her early life in Fort Lee, N.J. Her father, Tadao Yamada, was a businessman, and her mother, Mabel Fujisake Yamada, ran the household.

She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and earned a master’s degree in business administration as well as public health from the Columbia University Business School.

Ms. Davis worked for Bell Labs (now AT&T Labs) and had a long career in telecommunications before her unexpected TikTok fame, Ms. Shofet, her daughter, said.

“She had this whole chapter as a groundbreaking female engineer, and she was very proud of that,” she added.

As a TikTok star Ms. Davis would get recognized around the world, including in Japan and Italy, where she traveled with her youngest son, Tim. Sean Davis, her other son, is a professional soccer player who used to be a midfielder for the New York Red Bulls and now plays for the Nashville Soccer Club.

“She was my first coach,” he said. When she would visit him in Nashville, he said, she’d get recognized in the street, often by young people who use TikTok a lot.

“That’s how I realized how famous she was,” Sean Davis said. “People would ask for pictures, and I would take the picture.”

Most of all, Cooking With Lynja provided Ms. Davis with much fun, Tim Davis said. With special effects that have tiny versions of Ms. Davis flying across the screen and quotes like “Lynja’s got that dope!” her videos appealed to several generations of viewers. In her videos she is seen preparing all kinds of foods, heard sinking her teeth into crispy sandwiches or potatoes, and shown karate-chopping Ramen noodles and much more.

Ms. Davis was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019, which affected her voice. Two years later she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. In one video, Ms. Davis bakes cookies for the medical workers who treated her.

In addition to her daughter Hannah and her sons, Ms. Davis is survived by her second husband, Keith Davis; another daughter, Becky Steinberg; two siblings, Jay Yamada and Karen Dolce Yamada; and two grandchildren. Her first marriage, to Hank Steinberg, ended in divorce.

In her final years Ms. Davis got to travel around the world, meet people as well as cook and eat amazing food, Sean Davis said. He added, “I just think her final chapter was exactly how she would have wanted it to be written.”

A correction was made on Jan. 12, 2024: An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misstated the surname of Lynn Yamada Davis’s brother. He is Jay Yamada, not Jay Davis.

Article by: Claire Moses

Related link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/dining/lynja-davis-cooking-tiktok-dead.html%23:~:text%3DLynn%2520Yamada%2520Davis%252C%2520a%2520TikTok,daughter%2520Hannah%2520Mariko%2520Shofet%2520said.&ved=2ahUKEwj54vHkmNmDAxUCwjgGHcmJD4IQFnoECBAQBQ&usg=AOvVaw3LVu4CRgXFfh9eWXrv6Yhy

Namo, Julius

Sarmiento, Jizel Chinnji

Salamanca, Amalia

[ejlyt]

WHOLESOME TIKTOK LADY DIED :(((

For those of you who may not know her name, this is her:

She was so precious…

Here’s her yt

be sure to send her family all the love 💕 💕 💕

[writing-fanics]

I can’t belive she’s gone

[samiiola]

I really loved to watch her shorts of her cooking.. her jokes always made me laugh. It's sad she passed away today...

Rest in peace lynja 🕊

[tired-and-swaggy]

rest in peace to Lynja of Cooking with Lynja <3

i loved her content so much she was so great and funny and lovely she will be missed so much

[heeheehoohoohee]

Riddler squash riddler squash

[clwntwn]

I just found out cooking with lynja died, rest in peace, you will be missed

[mrkstyx]

R.I.P. Lynja AKA Lynn Yamada Davis (July 31, 1956 – January 1, 2024) 🕊️

[xjesslynne]

RIP LYNJA

2024 is off to a shitty start.

 😭🕊️

[lyonedraws]

Rip Grilling Grandma, your legacy will be carried on in the hearts of your many, many Lynja turtles 💔

[hoarder-of-dragons]

Rest in peace Lynja

You're videos have never failed to make me smile

[kinokochouchou]

You’re the best mom I could have ever asked for but an even better frien...

[michaelnotwheeler]

I love you Lynja <3

Fly high 🕊️

[jassylife]

everyone bad news for one of our YouTubers again the same as I posted about how Vinn quit YT and the gacha community since weeks ago, and the other post from 2 years ago since I first join Tumblr and posted for new car fans and new Disney fans who watch cars but questioning why is Doc is not appearing anymore and show y’all that Doc and his voice actor died of cancer or smth idk they both die from years ago, and other post about new eddsworld fans that are questioning why is Edd’s voice sounded differently and the reason why becuz Edd’s first voice actor and animator died of cancer too and replace with a new voice actor for Edd and new animator, so here’s is this cooking number one grandma Lynja😔😔😔😔😔🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️💔💔💔💔💔🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦

idk if her son is making YT vids or someone else but idk I didn’t watch Lyjna until I saw someone posted a pic of her and saying that she dead and I was like “wait really?!” And I go her channel and I saw only her son in her new vid and I go to other YT vids and they all saying about Lynja’s death and I when to her channel and watch the vid and it’s only the vid of her son telling everyone in the whole interact that Lynja is dead because she lived a longer time so Lynja if you’re seeing this in heaven am felt bad about your death you didn’t deserve to be dead I wish you will get more subs and more support and respect😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦

[y-vna]

R.I.P Lynja </3

2024 is already so devastating ☹️

[michoislost]

video reposted from my TikTok but still.

Lynja helped me keep a smile on my face during the harshest days of my depression, with delicious recipes and silly editing she brought a spark into the world I had never seen before. But just like any star, it was time for her to rest. We'll still see her light for years to come, and remember about this silly lady named Lynja who really loved cooking. Thank you Lynja, shine on.